


Your Turn

by disco_agidyne



Category: Persona 3
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 23:13:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29924286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disco_agidyne/pseuds/disco_agidyne
Summary: A short conversation between two people who share the same burden.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	Your Turn

**Author's Note:**

> A drabble request for a friend. Contains major Persona 3 spoilers.

“You’re late,” Minato says. He’s sitting on the floor in front of the Seal, arms loosely crossed over his spread knees. Barbed wire sways from the door towering behind him, and lays like scars on the floor around him. Minato’s clothes bare evidence of where the wire once was, with rips and tabs hanging from his arms, chest, and legs.

“Like you’re one to talk,” Hamuko snaps back with a playful wink, in spite of how slowly she trods toward him. Though her body and clothes appear in great condition, she exudes exhaustion as though she’d arrived straight from battle. Her breath is labored as she pauses to lean against the door. “Leaving gets harder every time.”

Minato nods and says nothing, because if anyone gets it, it’s him. Because he’s used that same ‘ _you’re late_ ’ line the last seven or eight times Hamuko trudged back. Because he’s also returned late that many times with a fresh mix of heavy, heartfelt goodbyes echoing between his ears and weighing him down.

One would think it’d get easier, but it doesn’t. Not really.

Minato clears away the barbed wire and Hamuko collapses in a heap at his side.

The Great Seal looms over them. It’s gold and ornate, like something out of an ancient tomb. ‘ _It_ is _a tomb_ ,’ Minato once told her. He was right, but she’s never liked to think of it that way.

“ _It’s not permanent,_ ” Hamuko would tell him, back in the beginning.

And then after a short pause, Minato would answer with a reluctant, and somewhat incredulous, “ _It’s not, huh?_ ”

But he’s never pressed her on it. Maybe he doesn’t want to run the risk of a confrontation convincing her to skip his turn, or maybe he doesn’t want to take away something that keeps her going. Either way, Hamuko respects him for it. She’s since stopped bringing it up. After all, they’ve both had more than enough time to refine their thoughts in this lonely void.

Hamuko claps Minato’s shoulder and pushes him forward. “Your turn, Bronato.”

Rubbing his shoulder, Minato repeats back with a tiny frown, “Bronato?”

“Minabro.”

“Stop.”

Minato does his best to rub the ache of secondhand embarrassment from his head, and Hamuko can only laugh.

“Get out there and knock ‘em dead,” Hamuko finally says, using the last of her energy to give the air an enthusiastic punch.

The joke hits too close to home to be funny, but Minato smiles for her anyway.

And though it hurts to have another goodbye so soon, Hamuko smiles for him, too.


End file.
